Modular security suite [MSS I ]

ABSTRACT

A suite of hardened high security steel &amp; concrete modules for protection of people, pets and valuables during a tornado, hurricane, home intrusion or other emergency. A Modular Security Suite [MSS™] is an above ground set of two or more rooms whose steel plate walls extend deep down into a building&#39;s concrete or other material foundation and are primarily anchored by the foundation&#39;s steel reinforcement rods and the weight of building&#39;s concrete foundation. After construction and interior decoration a MSS unit disappears into the home or office floorplan. A MSS unit could include a full bathroom, kitchenette or panty and a hallway module with built-in bunk beds. Its steel plate walls are filled with concrete and rerod to greatly increase its resistance to serve weather and debris. The design&#39;s hallway module and its two steel and concrete pocket doors protect its interior doorways from damage and provides two exits.

BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART

NOAA and other serve weather forecasters are predicting a cyclical increase in the number of hurricanes for the next ten years or so as well as those hurricanes are predicted to be more intense and damaging at least partially due to significant warming of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean waters. Similar finds are also being predicted globally. Furthermore, inland tornadoes and tornadoes spun-off hurricanes are on the increase and seem to be more numerous and more damaging in recent years. In 2004 & 2005 Florida and the U.S. Gulf coast experienced a series of devastating hurricanes and associated tornadoes some of with were Hurricane Category 4 & 5. In May of 1999, an F-5 tornado was Doppler-radar clocked at 318 MPH just east of Oklahoma City, Okla.; a world record for surface wind speed. Therefore, a next generation design for hurricanes, tornadoes and safe rooms was needed to meet the personal security or irreplaceable private property needs of families and businesses.

The Modular Security Suite™ utility design is intended to significant boost home, office and school security but also to be “Dual Use” space that would get regular everyday use but could be converted for emergency use in seconds. Moreover, this next generation design should add significant value to homes and offices so equipped, should appraise higher than comparables without a Modular Security Suite and should help sellers reduce days on the market when selling a home with a “Security Suite™”. Typically, other storm shelter and safe room designs know to the inventor are not “Dual Use” and are made of significantly less robust or strong materials. Many are intended for short stays and do not have either a W.C. or a kitchenette or food pantry. Only the MSS design has put forward adding a hallway modular which protects interior doors from storm debris and thusly significantly improves ones odds of easily exiting such a storm shelter or safe room when the danger has passed. Additionally, its vertical steel pipe “studs” will help protect families from fallen trees and optional water tight interior doors would “buy time” for escape via its ceiling escape hatch when water are rising outside.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In summary, a Modular Security Suite is intended to add security and value to any building it is attached to or embedded within. It is furthermore intended to be reasonable comfortable for people and pets during a fast moving tornado [perhaps 20-30 minutes], a slow moving hurricane [sometimes longer than 24 hours] or while local police remove intruders from a private home, a bank, a school, et al. And unlike an SUV or other new car a Modular Security Suite should appreciate with time and could become the most valued amenity for families in an era of more severe and more frequent hurricanes and tornadoes and more looting in the wake of disasters or large scale mandatory hurricane, etc. evacuations.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The Oklahoma MSS model is 100 S.F. in overall size, is at that size exempt from Oklahoma State real property taxes [only the storm shelter or safe room] and it would include W.C., kitchenette and hallway modules.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Its interior and exterior steel plate walls would be about 0.25″ thick with welded vertical 3″ steel pipe studs about every 2-3 foot within its steel wall system/concrete form. The two pocket doors at either end of the hallway module would be made like the steel & concrete walls and ceiling elsewhere in the MSS design. Each room or module would have at least two exits and one room would also have a pull-down set of steps for a third exiting via a ceiling emergency escape hatch. Once this basic MSS is installed, concrete added, fixtures added and the interior decoration is complete the “Dual Use” design would “disappear” into the home or office floorplan and would not be obvious to a casual visitor. Several larger and smaller “Security Suites” models would be offered for smaller and larger than average homes, etc.; i.e., individual architects, structural engineers and property owners would decide on exact wall thicknesses, size and type of building materials to be used, number and size of Modular Security Suite rooms, etc. 4,126,972 Nov. 28, 1978 Silen 5,979,128 Nov. 09, 1999 Parsons 6,334,278 Jan. 01, 2002 Arnold 6,393,776 May 28, 2002 Waller, et al 6,415,558 Jul. 09, 2002 Cherry 

1. A high security tornado, hurricane and safe room real property improvement consisting of two or more modules or rooms; for example, a complete bathroom, kitchenette or pantry, master down bedroom or secure home office or even high security stalls for top race horses. One module or room would be primarily a hallway for everyday use with adjacent stored or retracted steel core/wood paneled or steel walled/concrete & rerod core sliding pocket doors at either end. This design provides two exits, allows for interior decoration that would conceal a Modular Security Suite [MSS]™, as well as help protect its interior doors and door jams [at right angles to exterior pocket doors] from deformation and jamming-closed due to debris accumulation and high speed projectile impacts.
 2. This two or more modular unit design further consists of exterior and/or interior walls and ceiling made of welded steel plates reinforced by welded steel pipe/studs or steel channel/studs. The MSS modules are positioned at the new home, office or other building site by hydraulic lift or other means, leveled, bolted together and then the seams between the steel modules would welded together. The interior space within the steel walls and ceiling would be filled with standard rerod and concrete while its floor would be completed or made when the building's concrete foundation is poured. Moreover, the lower ends of a Modular Security Suite's steel plate walls extend deep into the building's foundation space that will be filled when the building's concrete or other foundation is poured. The deep anchoring of the MSS design significantly increases wind load resistance to tornadic, hurricane, earthquake and other extreme load factors. The MSS wall adjustment “feet” allow for easy leveling when MSS modules are being installed at a building site. The wall leveling “feet” are comprised of a steel plate base which is welded to the end of a steel pipe section whose exterior surface is threaded to mate with the interior surface of another pipe section to give this leveling device its height adjustment ability. The base “feet” are bolted and/or welded around the base of the Modular Security Suite's steel plate walls, adjusted for height, and locked in position when the concrete is poured for the building's foundation. After the foundation's concrete is sufficiently cured, steel rerod is added the MSS walls and ceiling spaces, concrete is added to form the final MSS monolithic structure.
 3. The MSS hallway and pocket doors also operate as temporary fire breaks, intruder/shooter barriers and can help regulate the use of space throughout the home, office, school. By closing one or the other of its steel core or steel & concrete wood paneled pocket doors the MSS hallway module could limit children or seniors access to either the living room and kitchen area of a home during the night, limit access to the bedrooms during a house party or block an intruder from easy access to residents and their valuable personal property. Additionally, the length and orientation of the hallway would allow for built-in, fold-down beds or benches for occupants and the option of installing a ceiling escape hatch [third exit] in the hallway—or in another MSS module—and a pull-down stairway which may be especially important during hurricanes which can last 24+ hours and can cause significant flooding. Optional water tight interior doors could be installed for coastal and flood prone areas. All MSS units would be GPS located and registered with local, state and Federal emergency agencies. Note: Professional architectural renderings of the MSS design will follow with additional claims and amending details which will be prepared and filed by a patent attorney registered with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. 